Severe weather tore through the area this afternoon prompting tornado and thunderstorm warnings and leaving behind uprooted trees and property damage in West Deer in Allegheny County and Jackson Center in Mercer County.

FirstEnergy says it will close two coal-fired power plants in southwestern Pennsylvania as scheduled next week with no expectations that they will be sold or reopened under stricter environmental regulations.

Today, environmentalists put the First Energy Corporation on notice they will be suing them, saying Little Blue Run is leaking toxic chemicals into the stream and groundwater of neighboring communities.

Fly ash and calcium sulfate trapped at First Energy’s Bruce Mansfield plant is pumped through a seven mile long pipeline into the three-square mile Little Blue lagoon — creating what environmentalists call a dangerous cocktail of chemicals and heavy metals.